Lee McKusick

Love Keeps Her In The Air: The Spiritual Parallels of Firefly, Pt. 2

Thursday, July 17th, 2008 | Fun, God, Movies, Tv | 2 Comments

It’s always bittersweet finishing a captivating story. It’s an close on an exciting and captivating chapter, but there are so many good memories.

Enough nostalgia, let’s move to the waxing philosophical.

(Again, there may be spoilers so you’ve been warned.)



So I just finished watching Serenity, the movie set after Firefly. At the very end, as Mal and River are flying Serenity up and out of the storm, we find another instance where we can catch a glimpse of God’s nature.

Mal: Ain’t all buttons and charts, little Albatross. You know what the first rule of flying is? Well, I suppose you do, since you already know what I’m ’bout to say.
River: I do. But I like to hear you say it.

People have grappled for centuries with the question that “if God knows our hearts and minds, why do we pray?”. Questions of predestination aside, if God knows what we think and what we are going to pray, why should we bother actually doing it?

The simple answer would be because God wants us to. He didn’t create us so that we could just go our own way and live on our own, apart from him. He did it so that we could experience his goodness, love, and community, and so that He could love us in return and take pleasure in our lives. It is God’s joy, and therefore our own, that we pray and talk with Him. He may know what we’re going to say. But He likes to hear us say it.

Mal: Love. You can know all the math in the ‘verse, but you take a boat in the air you don’t love, she’ll shake you up sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tell you she’s hurting before she keens. Makes her a home.

I don’t know any biblical parallel to this off the top of my head, other than Paul’s description of love, but this is such a powerful quote.

Love is the fuel that a true home runs on. If your home isn’t built on a foundation of love, it’ll fall right out of the sky and crash to the ground in a fiery wreck. But a home built on love has the power to soar high above the clouds, lifting you and yours above anything that threatens to tear you apart.

Speaking of which, we might as well finish out the scene:

River: Storm’s getting worse.
Mal: We’ll pass through it soon enough.

Persist through the storms of life, and you will come out the other side. Like Serenity emerging from the clouds to journey back out among the stars.

Shiny!

Tags: firefly, mal, river, serenity, spiritual

Power in the ‘Verse: Spiritual Parallels of Firefly

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 | Fun, God, Tv | No Comments

Firefly is one of the most awesome shows ever made.

I’ve been watching the whole series over the past few days. Why Fox canceled it is beyond me. It’s funny and intelligent, dramatic and action-packed. Anyway, enough raving, if you haven’t seen it, go watch it. Or come watch it with me, it’s a great time.

Also if you haven’t seen it, and don’t like spoilers, you might want to stop reading now. If you don’t mind them, you might see one of the reasons I love this show so much.

To give some backstory first, they just rescued Jayne, and Simon and River (both wanted fugitives) from the Alliance after Jayne ratted them out for the reward money. Mal, being a man who looks after his own, has a little chat with Jayne.

This is probably the most moving (and chilling) scene in the whole series for me, because it directly parallels reality.

“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” - Matthew 25:45

The words and sentiments of Malcolm Reynolds directly parallel those of Jesus Christ. “You turn on any of my crew, you turn on me…You did it to me, Jayne.” I said it was chilling because it’s not a far stretch to put myself in that airlock, feeling the same fire of righteous fury directed my way. I imagine that that’s quite similar to how Jesus will respond to those who have sinned. I can’t think that the Creator of the ‘verse would take any more kindly to betrayal…

Another thing that made me shiver a bit was Mal’s response to Jayne’s question:

Jayne: What are you gonna tell the others?
Mal: About what?
Jayne: About why I’m dead.
Mal: I hadn’t thought about it.

Jayne’s betrayal caused a rift so great that Mal would simply abandon and forget him. Sound similar?

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi,[a] lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” - Matthew 27:46

But it’s what happens next that brings hope. Jayne accepts his impending doom, and genuinely repents. And because of that, Mal shows him mercy, and the rift is gone. Well, maybe not gone, as Jayne gets to ride in the makeshift brig for a while, but then again, he’s only human. Atherton Wing can attest to that:

Because of it’s spiritual parallels, and awesome humor, plot, and characters, I love Firefly. You should too. Dong-ma?

Tags: firefly, jayne, jesus, serenity